Missional River 2.0 Southwestern Texas Synod, Cohort 4

Learning Seminar A Workbook

Permission to Reproduce

This guide may be reproduced for use at Learning Seminars by those who are LEAD Certified. Covenanted congregations participating in these Learning Seminars may reproduce the content for use in their own congregation. All other reproduction is a violation of LEAD’s intellectual property.

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Welcome to the Missional River 2.0 Learning Seminar. Where are you right now? Where do you want to be in a year?

Missional River 2.0

Learning Seminar A

Time Cohort 2, Seminar C Cohort 4, Seminar A

Friday

5:00 Welcome & Intro’s Welcome & Intro’s

5:30 Sacred Meal Sacred Meal

6:30 1. Learning Together 1. Three Moves in the Sacred Valley

7:15 2. Broadening Perspective 2. Tune In Orientation

8:15 Spiritual Pilgrims Spiritual Pilgrims

Saturday

9:00 Spiritual Pilgrims Spiritual Pilgrims

9:30 3. Adaptive Leadership 3. The Tune In Process steps 1-4

10:45 4. Problems vs. Issues 4. Storytelling

12:00 Lunch Lunch

12:30 5. Tune In 8-10, Case Study 5. Team Dynamics

1:15 6. Working your Case Study, next steps

6. Coaching, Commitment & Expectations

3:00 Spiritual Pilgrims Spiritual Pilgrims

3:30 Buen Camino Buen Camino

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The Sacred Meal Welcome and Explanation of Meal (Presider & Host) The Sacred Meal that is part of our faith does more than connect us to the holy. It connects us to each other. We will practice table fellowship in a way that the early Christians would have gathered in homes, to be together in Christian community. Jesus wanted his disciples, and everyone who came after him, to remember what they had together. What they made together. What it meant to be together. How the things he did could not have been done without them. In this way, we are part of the earliest movements of the Christian faith. Sharing of Peace (Host) The peace is shared by table: Each person shares a portion of their day that has been meaningful to them. It is

good to reflect on the question: Where have I experienced God’s presence in this day? The table leader leads the table in saying “The peace of Christ be with you,” the sharer responds by saying “and also with you.” Sharing of the Bread (Presider) Presider: On the night before Jesus was to die, he gathered together with his friends for dinner. And on that night, he took the bread, broke it, and gave it to them saying, “Take and eat, this is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And so tonight, we do the same. We take bread, break it, and give it to one another with those sacred words, “The body of Christ given for you.” Post-Bread Blessing (Presider) Presider: Be strengthened this night by the presence of Christ made known to you in the bread and in one another. Amen. Invitation to Meal (Presider) An invitation to the meal and explanation of food and family style etiquette is given. We are encouraged to serve each other. The host reads the assigned text for the day and the questions for meal conversation are shared. Post-Meal Prayer (Host) After the meal, the community prays The Lord’s Prayer. Sharing of Cup (Presider) Presider: When supper had ended that night, Jesus took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and all people for the forgiveness of sin. Do this as often as you drink in remembrance of me.” And so tonight, we take the cup of wine, and we give it to one another with those sacred words, “The blood of Christ shed for you.” Post-Wine Blessing (Presider) Presider: Now that you have tasted the goodness of God in bread and wine, let us be the body of Christ, blessed and broken for the whole world. Amen.

Adapted from The Sacred Meal: The Ancient Practices Series by Nora Gallagher

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Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch Acts 8:26-40 26 Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a wilderness road.) 27 So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship28 and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this chariot and join it.” 30 So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. 32 Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth.33 In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.” 34 The eunuch asked Philip, “About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 35 Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. 36 As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is to prevent

me from being baptized?” 38 He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip

baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way

rejoicing. 40 But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

Dwelling in the Word Text

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Session 1: Three Moves in the

Sacred Valley

A. Relationships have a new operating system Historian Marc Dunkelman, in The Vanishing Neighbor, describes three waves of life throughout the history of the United States. First, the move from a nomadic existence of hunter-gatherer to an agricultural society that formed patterns of life centered in established towns and cities. The second wave, which crested in the mid-1950s, was fueled by the advances of the Industrial Revolution. In this wave, nuclear families replaced multi-generational households, corporations became the standard way to organize business, etc. For most of us, this is life as we know it. The third wave began in the late 1970s with an entirely new framework developing. In this digital revolution, the global access to information is only the beginning of the shift. We are living through one of the greatest transitions in our nation, not to mention the world, and the biggest impact is on relationships. Dunkelman uses the image of the planet Saturn as he describes our relational rings. The planet is a person and the rings his or her acquaintances in succession of diminishing intimacy. Some might suggest that the distance between the globe and each ring represents a measure of bonding between individuals. The most intimate relationships are those whose orbits form the innermost rings.

First and second wave relational rings In both of these waves in our country’s history, the first ring (most intimate) and the middle rings (extended family, friends, neighbors) remained primary. The move to an industrialized nation did not alter the way relationships operated. Third wave relational rings In this recent wave, the inner ring has expanded with helicopter parents, families cocooning, etc. The middle ring has been reduced to very limited connections while the outer rings have expanded. A few implications The reduced middle ring has a direct impact on

institutions which thrive in this place in our lives. The church sits in the middle ring. Without

intentional connections to the neighborhood, congregations play no active role in the local community. They are disappearing.

There are three new opportunities for congregational mission:

1. The family - operating in the inner ring. 2. The neighborhood - becoming a new

middle ring. 3. The digital world - now participating as

the accessible outer ring.

Ref lection: What impact do the changing relational rings have on deep, sustainable relationships? What are the fears, concerns or threats created by the new operating system? How do you see people and systems of power reacting to relational shifts?

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B. We have a Remarkable God Remarkable means worthy of attention. The question for us today is what does it look like to be a church that worships a remarkable God? What is our God-narrative? C. Adaptive leaders have a Learner Mindset

LEAD believes congregational mindsets can change. For that to happen, we need to shift our questions from a judger mindset to a learner mindset.

Judger Questions include questions like this:

Whose fault is it? What’s wrong with them? Why am I failing? Why are they so stupid

Learner Questions are more like this:

How can I think about this differently? What are they thinking and feeling? What is possible in this situation? What do I really want? What do they really want? Look at the two columns on the screen — do you see the difference? For more information on question thinking, we recommend Change your Questions, Change your Life by Marilee Adams.

Ref lection:

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CONVERSATIONAL BLIND SPOTS How do we become more conversationally intelligent? One way to improve is by recognizing and

overcoming the five most common conversational blind spots.

Blind Spot #1: Assuming everyone thinks like me. An assumption that others see what we see, feel what we feel, and think what we think. Backstory: When we are engrossed and attached to our point of view, we are unable to connect with others’ perspectives. If we did, we would realize how differently they see the world. Yet our bodies pick up the lack of connectivity and switch on a stronger need to persuade others we are right. Human beings actually have a high addiction to being right. When we persuade others we are right, our dopamine level goes up. It’s like a natural high—dopamine is part of the brain’s reward center. Winning a point makes us feel good—it makes others feel bad, but we often don’t

realize that.

Blind Spot #2: Feelings change our reality. The failure to realize that fear, trust, and distrust change how we see and interpret reality, and therefore how we talk about it. Backstory: When in a state of fear, we release cortisol and catecholamines which close down the prefrontal cortex. We feel threatened, move into protective behaviors, and often don’t even realize we are doing it.

Blind Spot #3: I am too fearful to empathize. An inability to stand in each other’s shoes when we are fearful or upset characterizes Blind Spot #3. Backstory: Researchers in Parma, Italy, led by Giacomo Rizzolatti, discovered, through their 1999 research on monkeys (and later humans),

that our brain has unique neurons called mirror neurons. These neurons give us a view into what others feel, think, and intend. When we listen deeply, turn off our judgment mechanisms, and allow ourselves to connect with others, we are activating the mirror neuron system, now thought of as ‘having empathy for others.’ Yet when we are fearful, that power to connect becomes disconnected, and our sensitivity to others’ perspectives recedes.

Well, I’m not listening to this guy...

Does he think he can do my job?

Does he think he

can do my job?

Conversational Intelligence by Judith Glaser

Session 3, Step 1 of LEAD Tune In Process: Understanding Point of View

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Blind Spot #4: I remember, therefore I know. The assumption that we remember what others say when we actually remember what we think about what others say. Backstory: Researchers have concluded two things. One is that we drop out of conversations every twelve to eighteen seconds to process what people are saying. The other is that we often remember what we think about what another person is saying because that is a stronger internal process and chemical signal. In other words, our internal listening and dialogue trumps the other person’s speech.

Blind Spot #5: I am listening so I actually know what you really mean. The assumption that meaning resides in the speaker, when in fact it resides in the listener, characterizes Blind Spot #5. Backstory: For me to make meaning, I need to draw out what I think you are saying from my vault of experiences, specifically from the hippocampus, where memory is stored in the limbic system, or emotional brain; or I may draw from the neocortex, where I store memories of what to do and how to do it. My brain will

pull the meaning from my experiences and I then bring them into the conversation to make sense of what I

hear. That’s why “in my mind’s eye” I can see a totally different picture of what you are saying than what your mind sees. Meaning resides in the listener until the speaker takes the time to validate and link back to make sure both have the same picture and shared meaning. All human beings have blind spots. We can’t focus on everything at the same time – if we did, we would lose our minds. There is too much data to process, too much confusion, and no logical threads to guide us forward. So blind spots are in many ways a natural part of our human system to prevent us from ‘going crazy.’ What we need to know about blind spots is how they work and what happens when we are incredibly driven by our I-centric impulses to protect ourselves. In these cases, our blind spots take us down a path of conversational ignorance. We stop listening deeply to others. We think they know what we mean when they don’t. We lose our ability to stand in each other’s shoes and empathize. Understanding our 5 Conversational Blind Spots, and learning to step through them into insight and awareness of others, strengthens our ability to create healthy environments for trust to emerge. From Judith Glaser, Conversational Intelligence

Is he listening

to me?

Let me see… What was I thinking...?

It’s all about me! No, it’s all about me!

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Step 1: Understanding Point of View (pp. 12-30 in Tune In Guide)

Step 2: Listening to God in Scripture & Prayer (pp. 30-32 in Tune In Guide)

Step 3: Reflecting on Listening through Scripture and Prayer (pp. 33-35 in Tune In Guide)

Notes and Ref lections: Session 3: Steps 1-4 of the LEAD Tune In Process

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Notes and Ref lections

Step 4: Listening to God in the Congregation (pp. 36-38 in Tune In Guide) Congregational Vitality Assessment — www.congregationalvitalityproject.com

Survey

Focus Groups

Influencers

Voiceless

Session 3: Steps 1-4 of the LEAD Tune In Process Session 3: Steps 1-4 of the LEAD Tune In Process

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Session 4—Telling Our Stories

Faith sharing is a way of describing spiritual transformation. Christian transformation is both initial and ongoing. Our initial transformation or change by Christ is celebrated in Baptism. But that is not the only experience of transformation we have. We experience smaller changes within our life of faith. These smaller changes are often shared through storytelling.

From – Through – To

The basic structure of Christian transformation, according to Adrian Van Kaam and Susan Muto, can be understood as FROM – THROUGH – TO. When we change, we move FROM one way of being in relationship with God and others TO another way of being in relationship with God and others. Finally, we go THROUGH a wide range of experiences as we move FROM the one way of being TO the new way of being. The THROUGH is the main body of a faith story.

Here are some examples of what a Christian person might change from and change to:

There are five essential ingredients to a complete and authentic Christian transformation experience. These ingredients, shown in the diagram below, are expressed in the content of a good faith story. They are ingredients in the soup of Christian transformation as one moves from – through – and to new life in Christ.

From… To… Judgmental Merciful Depressed Joy-filled Foolish Wise

Selfish Generous Empty Fulfilled Gluttonous Temperate Entitled Grateful Fearful Courageous Short-tempered Patient Uncaring Compassionate

Copyright © Jim Merhaut, www.CoachingToConnect.com, 2017. All rights served. Used with permission.

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Tel l your story Think about one significant transformation that has happened in your life.

Describe in a single phrase how you transformed FROM one way of being in relationship with God and others TO a new way of being in relationship with God and others.

I was transformed FROM _______________________________ TO ___________________________________.

As you moved THROUGH the process of transformation…

How was an experience of love the foundation for your transformation?

Who inspired your transformation?

Which Gospel stories, sayings, or themes connect with your transformation?

How did your experience of community deepen because of your transformation?

How has your Christian mission matured or developed because of your transformation?

Session 4 —Telling Our Stories

Copyright © Jim Merhaut, www.CoachingToConnect.com, 2017. All rights served. Used with permission.

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Session 5: Team Dynamics (from The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni)

Members of a trusting team… Members of a team with an absence of trust…

Admit weaknesses & mistakes

Ask for help

Accept questions & input

Give one another the benefits of the doubt

Take risks in offering feedback & assistance

Appreciate and tap into one another’s skills

Focus time and energy on important issues, not politics

Offer and accept apologies without hesitation

Look forward to meetings and opportunities to work as a group

Conceal their weaknesses and mistakes from each other

Hesitate to ask for help or provide constructive feedback

Hesitate to offer help outside their own areas of responsibility

Jump to conclusions

Fail to recognise or tap into each other’s skills

Waste time and energy on behaviours

Hold grudges

Dread meetings, avoid spending time together

Usually have a low morale

Teams that engage in conflict… Teams that fear conflict…

Have lively, interesting meetings

Extract and exploit everyone’s ideas

Solve real problems quickly

Minimize politics

Put critical topics on the table

Have boring meetings

Create environments where politics and personal attacks thrive

Ignore controversial topics

Fail to tap into all the perspectives of the team

Waste time and energy with posturing

Teams that commits… Teams that fail to commit…

Create clarity around direction and purpose

Align the entire team around common objec-tives

Develop an ability to learn from mistakes

Take advantage of opportunities

Move forward without hesitation

Change direction without hesitation or guilt

Create ambiguity about direction and priorities

Let opportunities slip by due to excessive analysis or unnecessary delay

Breed lack of confidence and fear of failure

Revisit discussions/decisions again & again

Encourage second-guessing

Teams that hold one another accountable… Teams that avoid accountability…

Ensure that poor performers feel pressure to improve

ID potential problems quickly by questioning one another’s approaches without hesitation

Establishes respect among team members who are held to the same high standards

Avoids bureaucracy around performance management

Create resentment towards members who have different standards of performance

Encourage mediocrity

Miss deadlines and key deliverables

Place an undue burden on the team leader as the sole source of discipline

Teams that focus on collective results… Teams that are not focused on collective results…

Enjoy success

Benefit from those who subjugate their own goals/interests for the good of the team

Avoid distractions

Retain energized members

Fail to grow

Rarely succeed in mission

Lose achievement-oriented members

Are easily distracted

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New Team

Strong Team

Your Team

Trust

Team members know about one another’s personal lives and are comfortable discussing them. Team members openly admit their weaknesses & mis-takes. Team members quickly and genuinely apologize to one another when they say or do something inappro-priate or possibly damaging to the team.

Conflict

Team members are passionate and unguarded in their discussion of issues.

Team meetings are compelling and not boring. During team meetings, the most important—and diffi-cult—issues are put on table to be resolved.

Commitment

Team members end discussions with clear and specific resolutions and calls to action.

Team members leave meetings confident that their peers are completely committed to the decisions that were agreed on, even if there was initial disagreement. Team members know what their peers are working on & how they contribute to the collective good of the team.

Accountability Avoidance

Team members challenge one another about their plans and approaches.

Team members are deeply concerned about the pro-spect of letting down their peers.

Team members call out one another’s deficiencies or unproductive behaviors.

Inattention to Results

Morale is significantly affected by the failure to achieve team goals.

Team members are slow to seek credit for their own contributions, but quick to point out those of others.

Team members willingly make sacrifices for the good of the team.

Proactively supporting healthy teams requires the ability to recognize behavioral warning signs. The 5 Dysfunctions of the Team provides a tool to identify healthy or unhealthy behaviors. Like the Tuckman stages, progression through the 5 Dysfunctions, requires progressive resolution. As healthy teams develop, more and more of the healthy behaviors ‘usually’ appear rather than ‘rarely’. Be aware when a ‘rarely’ condition appears, attention is may be warranted.

For each team listed in the columns below (New, Strong, or Struggling), review the characteristics of each of the levels and indicate whether these occur Rarely, Sometimes, or Usually.

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Session 6: Creating a Team Covenant

C ommitments & Expectations

Our Leadership Culture Commitment and Expectations Overview

By Pastor David Hansen

GOAL

A covenant among congregational leaders (either a LEAD team, council, board, or others) which focuses less on specific actions, and more on creating a culture that fosters collaboration and creativity.

INTRODUCTION

While this sort of task is usually done near the beginning of the work of a group, it may be undertaken at any point in the life of the team.

CONVERSATION 1

In this conversation, we are learning more about why we are working together.

Presentation from the facilitator on the purpose of the group

Is there a final product or event to be created?

How long will the group work together?

What form will the work together take (regular meetings, occasional calls, etc.)?

Is there a history to how this group came to be?

Is there a structure within this leadership group – who leads, what roles do people have?

CONVERSATION 2

Depending on how well the group already knows one another, provide time and prompts for introductions and getting to know one another.

REFLECTION 1

In this reflection, we are looking for the characteristics, attitudes, and values that we expect of one another as we work together.

Pass out writing materials.

Ask those involved in the conversation to draw a line down their paper.

At the top of the left side, write the question: “Members of this group should be ___________”

At the top of the right side, write the question: “Members of this group should NOT be ___________”

Give the team 10-15 minutes to reflect on these questions and write down their thoughts.

CONVERSATION 3

Gather the team back together.

Invite the members of the group to share their reflections from the previous questions.

As people share their ideas, write them on a white board or poster sheet so that everyone can see.

Work to group similar ideas on each side of the sheet together in order to avoid duplicates and begin to see themes unfold.

Note where the positive and negative overlap (e.g., “being prompt” with “showing up late” on the other side).

Make note of those character traits or behaviors that get named by multiple individuals (make a check mark next to each idea as it is repeated).

BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER

On each side, ask everyone to note the three character-istics that are most important to them.

Note the number of votes for each.

Pull out the 3-5 most important characteristics on each side, allowing a greater emphasis on the positive char-acteristics.

As you look over what you have created, does this sound like a group you would want to be a part of?

Will each of you commit to living out these values / character traits in your work together?

Make sure that you pull the final character traits / values into a finished document and email to the members of your group as soon as possible.

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C ommitments & Expectations

Our Leadership Culture Commitment and Expectations Worksheet

By Pastor David Hansen

The goal is to create an agreement about the commitment and expectations with less focus on specific actions and more intentionality on creating a culture that fosters collaboration and creativity.

Why do we need a shared commitment and expectations?

What kind of culture do we want to create? Take 10-15 minutes to brainstorm your answers to these questions by making a list in both columns. Be clear about your needs and expectations of others.

Members of this group should be _________ Members of the group should NOT be________

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Step Notes

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2

3

4

5

6

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The LEAD Process Session 6: Next Steps

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Tool Box Team Contact Information

Name Cell Phone Email Address

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Step / Topic Presenter Action Completion Date

Opening faith practice

Reflections on what we have learned since the last meeting

Action items before next meeting

Congregational messaging

Next meeting

Closing prayer

Agenda for: (Date/Location)_________-

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Making a Congregational Map

Month / Season

Already on the Map LEAD Journey Communication

September 2018

October 2018

November 2018

December 2018

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Week of Action Plan

The Next 15 Weeks

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Month Core Messages Methods Communicators Resources Needed

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Your Communication Strategy includes as many different delivery systems as possible. Check all that are available for use in your congregation:

_____ Prayers

_____ Monthly council updates

_____ Face to face

_____ Sermon

_____ Video screens in worship

_____ Worship bulletin

_____ Newsletter

_____ E-newsletter

_____ Bulletin boards

_____ Temple talks

_____ Website

_____ Facebook

_____ Other social media

_____ Blogs

_____ Special meetings

_____ Adult forums or classes

_____ Other____________________

_____ Other____________________

Make a

Communication Plan

Communication Plan and Timeline

Next Steps wit h your LEAD C oach and Notes

Resources to Check Out:

1. Your LEAD Webpage is located at www.waytolead.org. Go to the client tab, click on your synod’s name and use your password to access all the resources from this seminar and other tools to support your leadership. Your password is: swt

2. For your personal devotions, we recommend daily posts from the Center for Action and Contemplation written by Fr. Richard Rohr.

3. For your personal, family and staff reflection, we recommend using the practice of Dwelling in the Word or Daily Gratitude.